City Sports by Jim Fennell: A golden chance for QCIBT trivia

Manchester resident Curt Schneider, seen driving with the ball to the basket, provided this 1963 Union Leader photo, taken during the first Queen City Invitational Basketball Tournament, at St. Anselm College. He provides the description: "(It) shows the entire starting lineup for the great Bradley squad that year. Jeff Grenert is under the net with big Dave Hardy behind him; the others are, from left, Pete Decato, Mark Telge and Tom Mullen. For Central are, from left, Russ O'Brien, Kenny LaPointe and me ... " (UNION LEADER PHOTO COURTESY CURT SCHNEIDER)

With this being the 50th Queen City Invitational Basketball Tournament, it seems like a good time to flip through the record books and take a stroll down memory lane.

So, we present the inaugural QCIBT quiz. And, as a disclaimer, if you want to challenge any of the answers, go see Tommy Ameen - The Keeper of The Records - when you are at the tournament that runs Wednesday through Friday at Memorial High.

1. We'll start you off with an easy one. What school has the most QCIBT titles?

Central has dominated this tournament, making it to the championship game 30 times and winning it 23.

2. What schools have played in every one of the previous 49 QCIBT tournaments?

Another softball. City schools Central, Memorial and West will all be making their 50th appearance in the tournament. Trinity/Bradley has been in the tournament 36 times.

3. What out-of-town school has won the most QCIBT tournaments?

Don't rack your brain too much; just think back to last year, Merrimack, which beat West in last year's title game, has four titles. The Tomahawks have been to the championship game nine of the 17 years they have been in the tournament.

Extra credit: What out-of-town school has been in the tournament the most? You may be surprised to learn it is Keene, one of the original eight teams. The Blackbirds, who no longer play in the QCIBT, won the tournament once in 34 appearances.

4. Who hold the all-time scoring record for the QCIBT?

Drum roll please.. Tyler Roche of Central.

Twenty-five players have reached 100 points in the tournament, but only Roche scored more than 200. The former Boston College forward ended up with 201 in 11 games, averaging 18.2 points.

Dave Gavin of Boston College High and Keith Friel of Oyster River of Durham actually have the highest scoring averages, with 29 and 26.1 points, respectively. Gavin played four games and Friel appeared in seven, but neither could lead their team to a title.

The last player to join the Century Club was Merrimack's Tyler Gendron last year. Standing at No. 25 is current Southern New Hampshire University coach Stan Spirou. The Golden Greek scored exactly 100 points during the two years he played in the QCIBT with Central (1968-69).

However, it is a dubious record.

Ameen was the tournament scorekeeper at the time Spirou was playing and he says Scott Pappas claims to have been shorted a made free throw that somehow landed in Spirou's stat sheet. Ameen is standing by his records and we won't bet a Pappy's Pizza that he is wrong.

5. Who was the first team from outside the city to win the tournament?

Nashua. It took the Purple Panthers four trips to the championship game before they won the title in 1969. Boston English was the first team from out of state to win it, beating Central, 69-57, in the 1980 title game.

Extra credit: How many teams from out of state have been in the tournament?

Eight (BC High, Cambridge Rindge and Latin and Boston English from Massachusetts, La Salle Academy of Providence, R.I., Hope High of Providence and West Warwick from Rhode Island and Bishop Cheverus of Portland, Maine, and Traip Academy of Kittery, Maine).

6. St. Anselm hosted the first QCIBT in 1963 and Memorial has been home to the tournament since 1984, but where else has the event been played?

Central (1969, 1974) and SNHU (1980-83) are the only other venues to host the QCIBT.

7. How many teams went home from this holiday tournament with coal in their stockings?

Seven teams have failed to win a game in the winners' bracket of the QCIBT. Of those seven, Bow (5), Bishop Guertin of Nashua (3) and Souhegan of Amherst (3) have made the most appearances.

8. Has any team ever scored 100 points in a game in the QCIBT?

No. The closest a team came when in 1977 when Memorial High scored 98.

9. How many QCIBT winners went on to win the Class L/Division I title later that season?